Comment 43 for bug 571444

>I have just tested what happens with Debian Etch if there is wrong (missing) devices in /etc/fstab : system don't boot, problem
> with fsck ("the superblock could not be read......."). Same behavior on Hardy. I think that if users really want to boot with
> missing parts, they should explicitly add "nobootwait" to concerned fstab lines.
I don't see it as that simple. Yes root is one thing and your argument applies there, but hanging because of external or extraneous drives coupled with not seeing the error/prompt text and possibly not having the option to interact is another problem.

>* missing "splash" in grub2 conf IS a bug, that don't let users see why their system won't boot
to me, specifically requiring splash to see the error/prompt text is either a design flaw or bug. I expect text mode (read: console) to work before splash does. I manually set my systems to boot text mode.